'08 - 77k Miles - Rod Bearing Replacement Completed

[douglee25]

Here's the separate post to my rod bearing replacement on my '08 with 77k miles.

My original Blackstone Oil Analysis thread was located here - http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1037392

Of note -

1. I purchased this car used and the only info I could find was from running the VIN history. It appeared to be complete and up to date.
2. I have no idea on previous oil type or intervals.
3. I used and will be using Rotella T6 5w40.
4. I used WPC bearings and ARP rod bolts in for the swap.
5. Cost will vary depending on what you have done, what components you use, and what else they find in there. I would suspect for a straight forward job it should run you in the neighborhood of around $1800-$2300 plus tax. I make no claims what the shop will quote you.

I would like to give a shout out to the shop who did the work -

Bolt Motorsports - Richardson, Texas - Just outside of Dallas.

http://www.boltmotorsports.com/

They specialize in exotics and other high horsepower cars like vettes, etc. Coulter Dean has a soft spot for BMW's, so he had no problem taking in my E90.

Bolt Motorsports appears to do some methodical work. I couldn't have done the labeling or pictures better myself.

Onto the pictures....I'm glad I had things done. Coulter mentioned that it appeared my pan was off at some point because they found some gasket scraping marks. It's also possible the bearings may have been swapped before, but it can't be said for certain.

[BrewRifle]

Did you go with WPC treated bearings and ARP bolts? If so, where did you pick them up at?

[douglee25]

Originally Posted by BrewRifle

Did you go with WPC treated bearings and ARP bolts? If so, where did you pick them up at?

Good point. I added it to the original post.

I used WPC bearings from EAS I believe and ARP bolts. I'm unsure where the bolts were sourced from.

Doug

[dereksM3]

Those bearings look better than a lot of others on here.

[Stronie]

What did he charge? PM me.

[douglee25]

Originally Posted by dereksM3

Those bearings look better than a lot of others on here.

There's a possibility these were the second set. It's unconfirmed at the moment, but the shop mentioned the pan was definitely off before.

Doug

[dbyrd]

Great to know as I'm in Dallas, and I'll be looking to do this in another year or so. I'm aware of several other M3 owners in the DFW area that have been looking for a reputable shop for bearing maintenance - yes, I said maintenance.

Please PM me the cost if you're not comfortable sharing here.

I'm on my second engine - mine blew throwing rod bearings 1 and 4 at 82,000 miles. I plan to do this when this engine has 50,000 miles.

Thanks, OP!

[ilikebmxbikes]

not too bad at all. my 09 w/ 27k looked worse ( but still not terrible)

[Acree]

I'm also in Dallas and would be interested in knowing the cost...

[Hujan]

They look pretty good. My guess is this is the second set. How long have you had the car? What oil have you been using?

[tinman831]

Pls PM me cost as well. Looking into doing this in the near future since I've recently gone FI.

Group Buy on bearings and installation in DFW?

[edwinm3]

Were blackstone tests done prior to this? If they were I'm curious to know what they said.

Thanks

[BMRLVR]

These bearings look better than most S65 bearings I've seen at that kind of mileage.

The engine had no sign of contamination in the oil by looking at the bearings which would lead me to believe the engine was serviced quite regularly by it's previous owner(s)

Of note is considerable wear at the edges and parting lines. The parting line wear is most likely excessive crush on the bearings and the wear on the edges most likely mean slightly distorted rod big end bores. Is is also possible that the edges could be experiencing a bit of fillet ride but the photos are not lodge enough for me to say for sure.

All in all your engine looks better than most I've seen and you can be confident it will last for quite some time with the new bearings installed!

[MFKN3]

Originally Posted by BMRLVR

These bearings look better than most S65 bearings I've seen at that kind of mileage.

The engine had no sign of contamination in the oil by looking at the bearings which would lead me to believe the engine was serviced quite regularly by it's previous owner(s)

Of note is considerable wear at the edges and parting lines. The parting line wear is most likely excessive crush on the bearings and the wear on the edges most likely mean slightly distorted rod big end bores. Is is also possible that the edges could be experiencing a bit of fillet ride but the photos are not lodge enough for me to say for sure.

All in all your engine looks better than most I've seen and you can be confident it will last for quite some time with the new bearings installed!

I thought the OP had high lead readings and metal shavings in the oil filter.

Wonder why pan had been off. Perhaps threaded drain holes or for bearings.

[SenorFunkyPants]

Originally Posted by BMRLVR

These bearings look better than most S65 bearings I've seen at that kind of mileage.

One trend that "seems" to be appearing is that cars from cooler climates have bearings in better shape as a function of mileage that those from warmer climes. This follows the pattern for actual engine failures.

Its a shame that some bearing replacement threads end up randomly spread across several different threads as it dilutes the response. It also makes tracking the results more difficult.
These bearing replacement posts all need to go in one thread (as a Sticky) so that they can be better logged.
As should the engine failures which should go to "Blown motors, Bearing failure S65 Registry" (also should be a sticky)

[douglee25]

Originally Posted by dbyrd

Great to know as I'm in Dallas, and I'll be looking to do this in another year or so. I'm aware of several other M3 owners in the DFW area that have been looking for a reputable shop for bearing maintenance - yes, I said maintenance.

Please PM me the cost if you're not comfortable sharing here.

I'm on my second engine - mine blew throwing rod bearings 1 and 4 at 82,000 miles. I plan to do this when this engine has 50,000 miles.

Thanks, OP!

See updated original post.

Originally Posted by Acree

I'm also in Dallas and would be interested in knowing the cost...

See updated original post.

Originally Posted by Hujan

They look pretty good. My guess is this is the second set. How long have you had the car? What oil have you been using?

I just purchased the car a few weeks ago. I'm using Rotella T6.

Originally Posted by tinman831

Pls PM me cost as well. Looking into doing this in the near future since I've recently gone FI.

Group Buy on bearings and installation in DFW?

See original post.

Originally Posted by edwinm3

Were blackstone tests done prior to this? If they were I'm curious to know what they said.

Thanks

Yes, an oil analysis test was completed previously. See first post for a link. My lead levels were 7x the average. I understand analysis is about trending, but I found a couple of very very small specs or flakes. To me it appears as though it could have come from the edge of the bearings. Others disagree, but nonetheless that's what I found. I know it's not magnetic for that matter.

Originally Posted by BMRLVR

These bearings look better than most S65 bearings I've seen at that kind of mileage.

The engine had no sign of contamination in the oil by looking at the bearings which would lead me to believe the engine was serviced quite regularly by it's previous owner(s)

Of note is considerable wear at the edges and parting lines. The parting line wear is most likely excessive crush on the bearings and the wear on the edges most likely mean slightly distorted rod big end bores. Is is also possible that the edges could be experiencing a bit of fillet ride but the photos are not lodge enough for me to say for sure.

All in all your engine looks better than most I've seen and you can be confident it will last for quite some time with the new bearings installed!

I agree with what you've said. I will be inspecting the bearings tomorrow when I pick up the car.

Originally Posted by MFKN3

I thought the OP had high lead readings and metal shavings in the oil filter.

Wonder why pan had been off. Perhaps threaded drain holes or for bearings.

I did have high lead levels. See first post for the Blackstone report link.

Originally Posted by SenorFunkyPants

Its a shame that some bearing replacement threads end up randomly spread across several different threads as it dilutes the response. It also makes tracking the results more difficult.
One trend that "seems" to be appearing is that cars from cooler climates have bearings in better shape as a function of mileage that those from warmer climes. This follows the pattern for actual engine failures.

I posted the link to the oil report in the first post so everything would be in one wrapped up package for you. JK



I hope that answers a lot of questions for people. Let me know if there's something else.

Thanks.

Doug